Link's Love
by Orange Headphones
Summary: Link, a youth who cares little for the princess, is stuck with her to fight Ganon. How do the two come together to overcome their evil foe? First LinkxZelda
1. An Introduction

Link started out his first quest to save Hyrule, and when he rescued the princess for the first time, he really didn't get a good impression of her. Since she was royalty, she came off as snobbish, spoiled, and downright rude to the common. Needless to say, after Link rescued her, he went off to the forest, hoping he would never see her again. But one thing caught his attention of her, and that was her sparkling blue eyes. A sole good quality in a snobbish princess was not going to have this young boy go out of his way to see her at all.

One day, Link's long standing plans of isolation were derailed as Ganon's minions returned to the land of Hyrule capturing the princess quite simply, eventually offering an exchange of some of Link's blood to revive their fallen master for the princess. Link, through much prodding, reluctantly agreed to go and save the world of Hyrule again, but things went astray.

Link was about to make the exchange with the minions when, after Link had delivered his end of the bargain, they tossed her up, nearly causing her to be lost in a deep pit, but Link dove and caught her so that the two of them would be together. Link knew that if he had just let Zelda fall, despite his wishes, Hyrule would be terribly angry with him, and he just reacted with his hero's reflexes.

Down in that pit, it was another world, a world with no ladder to allow an escape. Link told Zelda to follow him, but as he had anticipated, she was being a spoiled little brat, despite her adult age of 18. Link then just told her that he'd leave, which he did. Then, and only then, did Zelda begin to heed Link's instructions of following him in order to find a way out.

Link led the two of them into the dark and vast forest that loomed before them. Zelda clutched to Link like a little kid who was scared of the dark at bedtime. Link just chuckled to himself at this spectacle. He thought to himself, 'And she calls herself the princess. Well at least she's not being difficult right now.'

The two of them settled down for the night after finding out the time from a gossip stone and the clash of a sword that Link kept constant along with his shield. Before the two of them went to sleep, Zelda started to talk with Link.

"Hey you," she began.

"Me?" he asked irritably.

"Yeah you."

"The name's Link. Use it more often."

"Well, _Link_, how do we get out of here?"

"Princess, I don't know. In all honesty, our best bet is to search the area for any way out."

Somewhat hopeful, she asked, "Link, do you think we'll find a way out?"

"Yes. Now go to sleep princess!"

The night was peaceful aside from that, and in the morning the two of them started to search the jungle. All seemed peaceful as the ventured for a few minutes, but then came the mad scrubs. All of them started a mad charge of Link and Zelda. While the princess cowered in fear, Link was fighting for both of their lives against the relatively weak foes. After they were gone Link walked back to where Zelda lay and let her know that they were no longer under attack.

"Hey, Zelda, I know that you're a princess and all, but since we're out here and not in Hyrule Castle, you're gonna have to learn to fend for yourself, because I won't always be able to take out all of these guys."

"But why?"

"Look, I know that you're important to the world, but for goodness sake Zelda, you need to protect yourself. Daddy's little girl wont always have daddy dearest around to help her."

She sniffled, and said angrily, "SHUT UP LINK!"

In silence, the pair moved on, with Link feeling very guilty, especially when he looked at her eyes, those sparkling blue eyes. If he even opened his mouth to try and make peace amongst the two of them she shot him an almost poisonous glare that stopped him from talking before he could even try to.

It stayed this way until a pair of wolfos came around. The second they noticed two outsiders, they started to attack. Link, lost in thought, didn't notice them, while Zelda hurled herself at him to knock him out of the way of the attack. Link snapped back into action, and started to attack them, one at a time. Unlike last time, Zelda was at least attempting to fight. Sadly for her, she was no good at combat, and Link had to bail her out.

After the fight this time, Link smiled at Zelda, and looked into her eyes again. He quickly made a mental note not to look there in times of danger because they'd lower his guard.

"Good job this time, but you've still got a ways to go."

"LET ME TELL YOU SOMETHING MISTER. YOU HAVE NO IDEA WHAT IT'S LIKE TO BE IN MY SHOES."

"Easy there. Calm down."

"I WILL NOT! WITHOUT ME YOU WOULDN'T LIVE YOUR PRECIOUS RECLUSIVE LIFE AS A HERO. I GO THROUGH ALL THE POLITICAL PROTOCOL JUST TO MAINTAIN PEACE IN THIS LAND SO THE ARMY DOESN'T HAVE TO BE DRAINED OF ENERGY."

"Really?"

"Yes. That's why I'm used to having 'my way' and being a 'daddy's little girl.' I do this because my world works in a way where people know what they're doing."

"Well, now I can see it from your point of view, but unfortunately that's not going to help us out here in the wilderness. When we get out, I'll lend you all the help I can give you with the people. For now, we've got to learn our way out here."

She nodded. "Yes Link, that's very true. Please help me to learn the ways of survival, and I'll help you with trying to find our way back to Hyrule."

Link nodded, and set up camp for the night, and the two of them were in better spirits, especially with each other, and with a little more respect as well.

After another day of looking for an exit to this forest, the pair found their way back into Hyrule. The both were overjoyed at first to know that they had returned home, but when they saw the destruction that had happened to the land, any joy was replaced with a sense of fear and wonderment of the destructive power of Ganon.

Link suddenly looked determined. He turned to Zelda and said, "Will you help me defeat this beast?"

She nodded, and said, "Anytime Link."


	2. Inside the Castle

Hyrule was definitely a shell of its former self… a wasteland not fit for a normal person to survive on. Everything in the surrounding vicinity of the entry Link and Zelda used was essentially a vast desert in the once lush forests that would lead up and stay near the castle. Zelda, somewhat instinctively and somewhat out of care, held tightly onto Link, knowing the two of them had the largest challenge they had faced on their hands, a true test of their abilities.

As they neared Ganon's castle, a certain air of disparity and grief pervaded the landscape. It almost seemed as if the fortress omitted an actual fundamental difference to the land itself. However, Link and Zelda were not ones to be affected by the castle, at least not too greatly.

Upon first sight of it, Zelda nearly lost her ability to stay conscious, gasping, "Link, do you see what they've done to it?"

He held her to support her, saying, "I see, Princess. Let's get in there and change it then."

Somewhat helped by Link's heroic confidence, Zelda managed to regain her composure and nodded confidently in agreement with him.

Quickly they set off into the bleak stone behemoth waiting only a few feet in front of them, hoping to conquer it and return peace to the land. If they succeeded, all would be well, until Ganon returned; if they failed, darkness would forever rule Hyrule.

From the first room, the dark evil was almost like a toxic fume upon the two Hylians, as if very slowly it was sapping their strength and strengthening the power of the foes that they would encounter. Nonetheless, they continued through the empty first room.

In the second room, Link and Zelda finally faced a foe inside Ganon's castle: A giant stalfos. The bony foe easily was twenty times the height of Link and bore a devilish grin on its skull. Drawing its proportionately massive sword and shield, the foe showed it wouldn't be easy to defeat.

It took every bit of Link's expert swordsmanship to avoid death at the hands of this skeleton beast. When Link finally saw an opening for an attack, his sword attack did no damage whatsoever.

Realizing the situation did not look good, Link yelled to Zelda, "Zelda! Get out of here. I'll hold him off so you can get out of here. Save yourself."

Zelda merely shook her head and told her companion, "There's no way I'm letting you handle this on your own. We're in this together."

"Well then, can you help me in this fight?" he yelled, a bad reflexive movement away from defeat.

"Hmm…" she pondered, "a giant Stalfos. Well, let's see. Maybe…it might…hmm…could it…that's it. I've got it. Look out, Link."

Jumping out of the way of another sword attack from the Stalfos, Zelda fired a blast of magic at their foe. Upon impact, the spell started the Stalfos on fire, the first step towards defeating it.

"Now Link!" she yelled, telling the hero to attack their giant foe.

When Link struck the beast this time, he knew that he had started to do some significant damage to it, as the fire had started to weaken the strength the skeleton had. Quickly enough, the two of them had defeated their first obstacle in Ganon's castle.

Link turned to Zelda and said, "Hey Zelda; thanks. I couldn't have done it without you."

She smiled and told him, "No problem Link."

Then the two of them proceeded to the next rooms, continuing to work together against a number of foes, each demanding that Link and Zelda use their respective combat strengths properly and effectively. Eventually, they stood outside the final room: Ganon's chamber.

Before Link opened the door to Ganon's chamber, Zelda put her hand on his shoulder, saying to him, "No, not now Link. Not yet."

Link turned to her and with a confused expression on his face asked, "Why not, Zelda?"

"Link," she began, "I have something that I have to tell you."

"Well, what is it, Zelda?"

"I…I…that is…umm…how do I say this?"

Not realizing what she was trying to say, Link simply told her, "Just tell me. Don't worry about it."

"Well, here goes nothing," she muttered under her breath. "Link, if we don't make it out of here alive…"

Reassuringly, Link told her, "Zelda, don't be so negative. Ganon's hard to beat, but I know that we can do it together. But, I am sorry for interrupting you. Please go on, Princess."

"Link, I want you to know that I love you."

With a smile on his face, Link told her, "I love you too, Zelda. Albeit you were hard to handle at first, getting to know you has helped to explain why you act the way you do. Frankly, I wouldn't change you either way."

Zelda quickly embraced Link and gave him a kiss. For a few moments, the two of them just stood there, each in the other's arms.

Link broke the silence, saying, "All right. Are you ready to fight, Zelda?"

"Yes," she nodded confidently as Link opened the door to Ganon's chambers and the two stepped inside, ready to do whatever it would take.


	3. Against Ganon

When they entered the chamber of the foul creature that resided inside the castle, Ganon met them with an evil grin, thinking he would be too powerful to be beaten this time. Indeed, Ganon was not as easy to defeat this time as he was the last time with a new technique or two up his sleeve.

Instead of in the previous fight he had with Link, Ganon had completely dropped his style of disappearing and firing balls of fire at Link. Instead he stood there, beckoning the two to fight him, convinced that he could not be beaten by the two of them.

Before either of the two could react, Ganon quickly delivered a magical blast in their direction. Doing the only thing possible, Link grabbed Zelda and jumped barely out of the range of the attack. Had they not dodged the attack, they would likely have immediately lost.

As Link got to his feet, Ganon was there, ready to deliver yet another strike. Wishing to delve into a different way of battle, Ganon drew a sword. Seeing that this might actually get interesting, Link drew his sword and shield, ready to fight as well.

The swordfight started out as a match between two skillful swordsmen. For every strong strike that Ganon made, Link was ready to block it; likewise, as Link attempted to deliver a powerful strike to Ganon, he parried the blow with his own blade. Neither quite seemed to gain any ground in battle, as they seemed evenly matched.

Thinking for a moment that Ganon had forgotten about her, Zelda crept behind him, ready to fire a blast of magic. However, that tactic didn't work, because, after blocking one of Link's more powerful strikes, Ganon took his left hand and sent a blast of magic in Zelda's direction. Unlike the last time, Ganon's blow connected with the young Hylian princess.

The force of the blast knocked the young woman backwards and against the back wall, seemingly rendering her unconscious. Seeing this unfold, Link let his guard slip for the slightest fraction of a second. However, that was all Ganon would need to take an advantage in his swordfight with Link.

Figuring that Zelda would be out of the battle for a while, Ganon took the offensive in his swordfight with Link, relentlessly delivering a number of expert swings and swipes of the sword, pushing Link back with each attack, effectively backing him into a corner with Ganon ready to strike the decisive blow.

However, when a hero such as Link is backed into a corner, the fight becomes infinitely more interesting. Once in the corner, Link regained the focus he had let slip for the slightest second and rolled out of the way of Ganon's strike right under his nose (literally between his legs).

Since the fight was back on even terms, Link again fought strike for strike with the powerful Ganon. However, though Ganon was powerful and skilled with the sword, he lacked the experience that Link had spent many years perfecting, especially in his attempt to rescue Zelda.

While Ganon's blows were of proper form and power, Link saw that he wasn't very fast in his attempt to deliver his strikes. Considering a new strategy as a result of this, Link backflipped a number of times, trying to force Ganon to charge after him.

Luckily, Ganon followed suit, and Link rolled out of the way of the charge and attempted strike, delivering a blow to the back of Ganon's head with his sword. After sustaining that blow, Ganon was momentarily stunned. In an attempt to rush his defeat, Link fumbled for his silver arrows, but couldn't find them amongst his other items.

When Link realized that he didn't have the silver arrows on his person, he heard a loud yell from the other side of the room, "DUCK!" Realizing that the voice belonged to Zelda, Link immediately followed the command; quickly an arrow came whizzing past his face, connecting powerfully with the skull of Ganon.

As with the last time Link and Ganon fought, the one silver arrow finished the fight: the arrows would always certainly defeat Ganon. Realizing that the mighty pig-like foe had been defeated, Link ran over towards Zelda and tightly embraced her, overcome by the joy that Ganon had been defeated but more joyous because Zelda had been the one to deliver the final blow (after having been captured twice previously).

After overcoming the initial shock of the moment, Zelda relaxed her tensed muscles, and returned the embrace. Though he was tired and somewhat weakened by the battles in Ganon's castle, Link was her hero, not only for rescuing her but for coming to know her as nobody else quite had.

When they exited Ganon's immense fortress, the two overlooked the landscape of Hyrule, noticing that the lack of Ganon's presence almost immediately seemed to lighten the air and bring the hints of new life. Each looking into the other's eyes and then to the land smiled with a sense of relief and heartfelt joy. Things finally were looking up for Hyrule.

Returning her glance to Link's face, Zelda started to say, "Hey Link?"

In response to that, Link asked, "Yes?"

Without giving him chance to react, Zelda quickly gave him a kiss, saying, "Thank you," afterwards.

Link, ever the hero he was, said in reply, "No problem, Zelda. I'm just doing my duty."

Through a small blush, Zelda smiled, looking directly at Link with those sparkling blue eyes of hers, and asked (albeit somewhat unorthodoxly), "Link, I know you're not of royal blood, but I'd like to know if you'd still marry me?"

"Zelda," Link said simply, "I'd do anything for you."


End file.
